Improvement in fruit-boxes



CHARLES A. BLAIR.

Improvement in Fruit Boxes.

Patented May 7,1872.

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M M flaw UNITED STATES PATENT FFICQ CHARLES A. BLAIR, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN FRUIT-BOXES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 126,440, dated May 7, 1872.

To all whom t't may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES A. BLAIR, of New Britain, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fruit-Boxes, of which the following is a specification:

My invention relates to that class of fruit and berry boxes which are composed of transverse splints whose ends are bent up and secured; and consists of the peculiar construction of the bottom, as hereinafter described.

The accompanying drawing shows a perspective view of a box or basket embodying my invention. This is represented with two of its sides cut away and removed for the purpose of better showing the bottom.

Previous to my invention similar boxes have been formed, in which the bottom consisted of two pieces laid across each other and tacked together; in others the bottom consisted of six or more pieces, either interwoven basket fashion, or simply laid across each other and nailed.

The object of my invention is to produce a box in which the strength and firmness of a solid splint of full width at the bottom is secured, and at the same time to so confine said wide splint as to prevent its warping. To this end I employ a solid wide splint, A, for the width designed for the bottom of the .box, and long enough to form the bottom and two sides of the box. The flaps a or ends of said splint may be slit, as shown, or may be left solid, as desired. Ithen construct three or more splints, B B B, of the same length as the splint A, and of such width that when placed side by side they will about equal the width of the splint A. The splint B is placed under the splint A and the splints B B over the same, and are secured together by nails or tacks. The ends of all the splints are then bent upward, and secured by the rim C or any other suitable fastening, when the box is complete.

By placing the splints B B upon one side, and the splint B upon the other side of the splint A, it is prevented from warping, and firmly held in its proper position, while the narrow splint B at the center of the bottom is much less liable to be caught on nail-heads or other objects when in use, than is the wide splint which usually forms the lower ckness of the bottom in similar boxes. The .vide splint A being a solid piece prevents the bot tom from twisting.

I claim as my invention-- A fruit or berry box, in which the bottom consists of one wide solid splint, A, and nar row transverse splints B B B, substantially as shown and described.

CHARLES A. BLAIR.

Vitnesses:

FRANK WETMORE, JAMES SHEPARD. 

